Hey, I have been looking at some Easton Press Tolkien books and I was hoping that some of you more knowledgeable Tolkien enthusiasts could help me know what exactly to look for. First there is a local used book store that has Easton Press copies of The Hobbit, LOTR trilogy, and The Silmarillion, each priced for $100. The LOTR copies state Revised Edition, but The Hobbit only has printing dates (The Silmarillion I did not look at). I was hoping someone could give me advice on buying Easton Press Tolkien books with respect to first editions, first printings, etc. Also I saw a very attractive copy of The Children of Húrin on the Easton Press website. Any input and/or advice on buying Easton Press Tolkien books would be very much appreciated. Thanks a lot!

I haven't noticed much collector interest in first impressions of these (they were reprinted for a long time with no indication of which print run it was.) Hammond's Bibliography does not give any real details on these except mentioning that they were first published in 1984. It's been a while since I have had one in hand but from what I remember, these were not available from the publisher for a long time during the '90s. The "Revised Edition" tag was added around when the movies came out and Easton Press re-released the set.

You seem to be already aware of this, but I mention it for anyone who may be interested... They are still available new from the publisher (you have to buy all five books, they charge you $59 per month for five months for the five books.) So they end up costing you $59 per book, for a total of $295. Here is the link: